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So after rereading chapters 1-7 I have to say that Dobby isn't as annoying as fanfiction makes him out to be, and Gilderoy seems more annoying than usual. Also this chapter 2 seems to be the first and only time where Vernon in particular really comes across as abusive.

Yer a wizard 'arry. First we'll get yeh wand and then they'll be the sortin' - Good fun, tha'. Then it's off to Liberia to transfigure Ebola-stained bedsheets into treacle tart... Ohh shouldna told yeh that. Should NOT have told yeh that. ~ Vlad

Personally, I don't quite get why Vernon decides to lock Harry up like that as punishment? I get he was really mad at Harry for botching an important dinner and lying about ability to use Magic outside of school. But does he remember that:

a. Sooner or later, somebody from the Wizarding World was probably going to show up, if nothing else to explain why Harry didn't go to school. And he does remember that half-giant that bent his gun like a pretzel, right?

b. One of his neighbors noticing the bars on Harry's windows. Either Harry really was built up as the Worst Kid Ever by the Dursleys, or the neighbors are all assholes. Shouldn't at least one person have found it the least bit odd Vernon would suddenly feel the need to bar Harry's windows.

c. Harry going to Hogwarts is actually a good thing for Vernon. It meant nine months with no Harry Potter, and it's not like he can use any of the Magic he learned outside of school anyway.

Btw, Figg is really bad at her job. How did she not notice the bars on Harry's windows? Maybe Rowling only decided later she would be a spy for Dumbledore, but still.

Ronald Bilius Weasley is the best character in the Harry Potter Universe. You can quote me on that.

Btw, Figg is really bad at her job. How did she not notice the bars on Harry's windows? Maybe Rowling only decided later she would be a spy for Dumbledore, but still.

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Off screen she sent a letter to Dumbledore who sent a letter to the Weasley twins to break Harry out. It's never said outright but they were the secret "Order" members.

Yer a wizard 'arry. First we'll get yeh wand and then they'll be the sortin' - Good fun, tha'. Then it's off to Liberia to transfigure Ebola-stained bedsheets into treacle tart... Ohh shouldna told yeh that. Should NOT have told yeh that. ~ Vlad

Also this chapter 2 seems to be the first and only time where Vernon in particular really comes across as abusive.

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He tries to choke Harry in OotP, so there's that

Also the Dursleys, Vernon in particular, go from being able to say "magic" in Book 1 to having a near fainting fit when Harry mentions the word in Chapter 1. Interestingly, Vernon goes back to being comfortable with saying the word once Harry's expulsion letter arrives.

Yer a wizard 'arry. First we'll get yeh wand and then they'll be the sortin' - Good fun, tha'. Then it's off to Liberia to transfigure Ebola-stained bedsheets into treacle tart... Ohh shouldna told yeh that. Should NOT have told yeh that. ~ Vlad

Poisons? One might wonder why you'd need any poison at all in your house.

page 34 said:

Draco paused to examine a long coil of hangman’s rope and to read, smirking, the card propped on a magnificent necklace of opals, Caution: Do Not Touch. Cursed—Has Claimed the Lives of Nineteen Muggle Owners to Date.

What the fuck kind of cabbages are those that they get eaten by Flesh-Eating Slugs?

page 41 said:

Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf

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And to think Arthur's usually shown as much meeker than Molly.

page 50 said:

“I think the feast’s already started,” said Ron, dropping his trunk at the foot of the front steps and crossing quietly to look through a brightly lit window. “Hey — Harry — come and look — it’s the Sorting!”
Harry hurried over and, together, he and Ron peered in at the Great Hall.

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The Great Hall isn't usually shown as having windows, is it?

I recall in the movies that Mrs. Weasley's Howler also casually said hi to Harry after it was finished; doesn't seem to be the case in canon.

page 60 said:

“Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative,” said Hermione, sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook. “It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state.”

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Hm. I wonder if it's also used for Animagi who get stuck in their original form.

page 63 said:

and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures’ll move.

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An explanation of how moving photographs are made.

page 76 said:

Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out.

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This is pretty interesting, although probably biased.

page 85 said:

there were rumors that Dumbledore had booked a troupe of dancing skeletons for the entertainment.

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Hm.

page 89 said:

But nobody heard much more. Sir Patrick and the rest of the Headless Hunt had just started a game of Head Hockey and the crowd were turning to watch. Nearly Headless Nick tried vainly to recapture his audience, but gave up as Sir Patrick’s head went sailing past him to loud cheers.

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This is just sad.

page 93 said:

“…I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadougou,” said Lockhart, “a series of attacks, the full story’s in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once…”

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Huh. Guess Ouagadougou being a wizardly place (presumably in Africa) was foreshadowed before, IIRC, being revealed as the site of another wizarding school.

With or with out a time turner? If with out it shows pretty unfair treatment of students.

What does defeat mean to you?

Nothing. It will never come. Death before defeat. You can kill me, destroy my soul, destroy my magic, but you cannot defeat me. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. And you may destroy my magic, but not before I destroy everything of this world that I can…including your magic and soul. There is no defeat.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like JKR didn't really think it through when saying that Bill and Percy both got 12 OWLs. I highly doubt that Charlie (who was just a year younger than Bill) wouldn't have noticed something strange with Bill's schedule. As for Percy, I doubt the twins would have let that slip from their notice.

Or maybe Hermione was the only one taking 12 courses in her third year, so the Professors decided to turn her schedule into a giant mess.

Also, doesn't Ron speculate that Riddle might have achieved 30 OWLs for his Award for Special Services? What's that about?

Nothing. It will never come. Death before defeat. You can kill me, destroy my soul, destroy my magic, but you cannot defeat me. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. And you may destroy my magic, but not before I destroy everything of this world that I can…including your magic and soul. There is no defeat.

As for the 12 OWLs thing, well, Hermione had 11 OWLs in the earlier editions of HBP, which would imply you can take the exam without taking the class for some subjects. I would assume she could have gotten 12 but stood on principle when it came to Divination. And considering we only have data for one student managing it every 5-10 years, it's not even that outlandish. But then, this was 'fixed' in the later editions of HBP and Hermione now has 10 OWLs.

And you only need an Acceptable to get the OWL, not that hard, I believe Hermione got near perfect O's which is far more impressive.

What does defeat mean to you?

Nothing. It will never come. Death before defeat. You can kill me, destroy my soul, destroy my magic, but you cannot defeat me. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. And you may destroy my magic, but not before I destroy everything of this world that I can…including your magic and soul. There is no defeat.

I know he does, but I remember thinking about it as there possibly being a different grading system in the past.

And you only need an Acceptable to get the OWL, not that hard, I believe Hermione got near perfect O's which is far more impressive.

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Percy doesn't strike me as someone who'd be happy with that

Prefect and Head Boy Percy and Prefect and Head Boy Bill both very much seem like the "model students" for whom McGonagall might have requested Time Turners. That none of their friends and siblings noticed seems very odd. Unless, again, there were other people who were taking 12 courses in their years and the Professors simply had to make a non-awful schedule.

So if Tom had 10 subjects and got outstanding in all 10 he would have 30 OWLs.

It was back when people jacked off hard over Harry receiving his OWL results.

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Ordinary_Wizarding_Level said:

In early editions of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Hermione Granger is said to receive eleven O.W.L.s, scoring ten O's and one E. However, after the events of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione shrunk her class load from twelve subjects to ten, dropping both Divination and Muggle Studies. This was corrected in the Scholastic edition, where Ron instead states the she received nine O's and one E, giving her a total of ten O.W.L.s.

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I always assumed you could choose to take an exam for a class you didn't actually attend.

And you only need an Acceptable to get the OWL, not that hard, I believe Hermione got near perfect O's which is far more impressive.

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We're told in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that Percy received top grades on his N.E.W.T.s. With the top grade being Outstanding, it's probably safe to assume he also received O's when he took his O.W.L.s.